Taito profits halved in full-year figures

The company best known as the creator of Space Invaders, Taito, has revealed that net profits for the 2005 financial year were down by over half as the firm struggled in the face of weak console game sales and poor returns from the arcade sector.

Overall sales were up by 1.9 per cent, but profits took a 51.1 per cent dive, falling to 1.72 billion Yen (12.5 million Euro) off the back of difficult trading in those two key sectors.

One area which did perform well, however, was 3D content for mobile phones, and Taito plans to focus increasingly on that sector through FY2006, as well as investing in the development of new arcade properties.

The console game division of the company and its karaoke products will see cutbacks in the year, however, as both of them underperformed badly during FY 2005. Overall, Taito hopes to raise profits by a third in FY2006, bringing net income to 2.3 billion Yen (16.8 million Euro).

At the same time, the company has also revealed plans to launch a major compilation of retro titles for the PlayStation 2 in Japan later this year, with Taito Memories Joukan set to feature some 25 of the firm's best-known arcade titles.

Among the games included will be several versions of Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, Darius Gaiden and Puchi Carat. According to a Famitsu report translated by US website GameSpot, the compilation will go on sale on July 28th priced at 5,040 Yen (36.75 Euro).